A mellowed Chautala tries to charm
bureaucrats
Chandigarh, March 4
When he was the Chief Minister, seldom did an officer dare oppose him. IAS officers of Haryana found their voice only when the electoral defeat of the INLD headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala looked a certainty.

The ‘Ganga Putra’ from
Rohtak
Chandigarh, March 4
“From the jaws of death to the Chief Minister’s chair.” This is literally true in the case of Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, “Bhupi” to his friends, who escaped death when he along with nine others was washed away by a flash flood in a tributary of the Ganga, near Hardwar on the night of July 31, 2003. His cousin, Rajinder, is still missing.

Hooda’s supporters jubilant, Bhajan’s protest
Panchkula, March 4
The announcement of Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the next Chief Minister of Haryana came as a rude shock to hundreds of supporters of Mr Bhajan Lal at his Sector 8 residence here.Supporters of Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda distribute ladoos in Chandigarh after Congress President Sonia Gandhi announced his name as Chief Minister of
Haryana. — Tribune photo by Pankaj Sharma

High Court judge inspects courts
Bhiwani, March 4
Mr Justice Rajiv Bhalla of the Punjab and Haryana High Court inspected courts at Loharu, Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani today. In his two-day tour, Mr Justice Bhalla was given warm welcome by the Bar Associations at Loharu and Charkhi
Dadri.

Ambala sex workers seek medical
help
Ambala, March 4
She does not wear a black satin salwar or silver ear-rings as did the heroines of Urdu writer Sadaat Hasan Manto’s famous story “Kali Salwar”, set in the red light area by the Ambala cantonment of pre-Independence times.

Rathi seeks security cover
Chandigarh, March 4
Former Indian National Lok Dal MLA from Bahadurgarh Nafe Singh Rathi has moved the High Court, seeking continuation of security cover to him.
Taking up his petition, the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Mr Justice H.S. Bedi and Mr Justice Viney Mittal, today issued notice of motion to the Haryana government for March 7.

Chandigarh, March 4
When he was the Chief Minister, seldom did an officer dare oppose him. IAS officers of Haryana found their voice only when the electoral defeat of the INLD headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala looked a certainty.

One who is familiar with Mr Chautala’s way of functioning would expect the INLD leader to bear a grudge against the IAS officers for protesting against him. But the rout in the Assembly elections apparently has made Mr Chautala a mellowed man in contrast to what he was when he ruled the state with an “iron hand”.

Instead of sulking about the IAS Officers Association’s move of criticising him, Mr Chautala yesterday invited the administrative secretaries and the heads of various departments to a tea party at Haryana Nivas. Fifty-odd officers, it was learnt, turned up for the party.

Many of these officers were also present at the stormy meeting of their association at Panjab University on February 26. Without naming Mr Chautala, the meeting passed a resolution expressing “displeasure” at the “humiliation” of IAS officers in the state.

Mr Chautala was yesterday all charm and bonhomie and generally gave the message that let bygones be bygones. The officers gathered at Haryana Nivas at 5.15 p.m. Mr Chautala, now the head of the caretaker government, spoke for about 10 minutes. He thanked the IAS officers for their cooperation and said if he had unintentionally hurt anybody, he was sorry for it. Mr Chautala also said that the help of IAS officers was crucial for carrying out development work in the state.

This was his last official tea party, Mr Chautala said, adding that he was going to keep in touch with the officers during his stint in the Opposition as well. Among the officers present at the party were the Chief Secretary, Mr Sunil Ahuja, the DGP, Mr A.S. Bhatotia, and the Director, Vigilance Bureau, Mr M.S. Malik.

Mr Bhaskar Chatterjee, a suspended IAS officer who was today reinstated by the government, did not turn up.

Chandigarh, March 4
“From the jaws of death to the Chief Minister’s chair.” This is literally true in the case of Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, “Bhupi” to his friends, who escaped death when he along with nine others was washed away by a flash flood in a tributary of the Ganga, near Hardwar on the night of July 31, 2003. His cousin, Rajinder, is still missing.

Since then he came to be known as “Ganga Putra” in his circle of friends. “Ganga Putra” was the epithet used for Bhishma Pitameh of the Mahabharata epic, who always only served the throne despite being the most powerful person of his times, the “Ganga Putra” of the Indian National Congress was today designated as the ruler of Haryana for the next five years.

With this the 58-year-old “Bhupi” has also fulfilled the dream of residents of the old Rohtak district to see one of them as the Chief Minister of Haryana.

This has been a long-standing aspiration of residents of Rohtak, which is known as the “political capital of Haryana”.

His elevation as Chief Minister also marks the coming in of generation next in Haryana politics, which so far had been centred around a triangle of “B,D,B(Bansi, Devi and Bhajan)”.

Mr Hooda shot to fame when he first defeated the tallest leader of Haryana politics, Mr Devi Lal, from the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat in 1991 for the first time.

He continued to do so for the next two elections in 1996 and 1998. Since 1991, he had been bete noire of Mr Bhajan Lal to the delight of Jats, the dominant community in the state.

The Jats could never forgive Mr Bhajan Lal for toppling the Devi Lal government in 1979 and again keeping the old man away from the seat of power in 1982 when he managed to be sworn in as Chief Minister by the then Governor, Mr G.D. Tapase, a la Jharkhand style.

Mr Hooda carefully cultivated the Deswali Jats by arousing their aspirations to head the state. So far all Jat Chief Ministers, be it Mr Devi Lal, Mr Bansi Lal, Mr Bhajan Lal or Mr Om Prakash Chautala, all belonged to the Bagri belt. It was due to his efforts that the Indian National Lok Dal could win only one reserved constituency in the entire Jat belt of the state.

Mr Hooda started his political career under the patronage of his cousin, Mr Birender Singh, a former Haryana Congress President. However, he got a big jump when the then AICC President, Mr Sita Ram Kesri, appointed him President of the Haryana Congress in 1997 after the humiliating defeat of the Congress in 1996. Differences cropped up between Mr Hooda and Mr Birender Singh.

It will not be an easy task for Mr Hooda, a law graduate of Delhi University, to run the state. Since he has come up by projecting himself as a crusador against corruption, he will have to give a clean administration. He will have to also rebuild the institutions the authority of which has been eroded in the past.

His wife, Asha, incidentally will be the first educated lady in the Chief Minister’s house. She holds the master’s degree in English.

Panchkula, March 4
The announcement of Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the next Chief Minister of Haryana came as a rude shock to hundreds of supporters of Mr Bhajan Lal at his Sector 8 residence here. These supporters threatened to launch a state-wide agitation in protest against the Congress high command ignoring Mr Bhajan Lal, even as he had the maximum number of MLAs in his
favour.

As soon as news of Mr Hooda’s selection as Chief Minister trickled in, the supporters of Mr Bhajan Lal, who had been camping outside his residence here since March 1, raised their banner of revolt. They began shouting slogans against the All-India Congress Committee
(AICC) President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, and the air rent with slogans of “Sonia Gandhi murdabad”, and “Ch Bhajan Lal zindabad”. The fact that the post of Deputy Chief Minister was offered to Mr Chander Mohan failed to enthuse the supporters.

In fact, the possibility that the Haryana Congress president, Mr Bhajan Lal, would not be made the Chief Minister, had dawned on the supporters around 1 pm. As news of a Jat being chosen for Chief Minister’s post reached here, the supporters who had been camping here, in anticipation of a celebration today, were dismayed that Mr Bhajan Lal was not being considered for the top job.

Ms Santosh Sharma, Panchkula Mahila Congress president, said the decision had come as a rude shock. “Mr Bhajan Lal had the support of maximum number of
MLAs. Ideally, he should have been made the Chief Minister, and it was unfair that someone who does not have popular mandate should be appointed as Chief Minister,” she said.

The police, too, rushed to the Sector 8 house of Mr Bhajan Lal and security was beefed up for fear of any retaliation by these supporters.

As the supporters converged at the residence of Mr Bhajan Lal, there was traffic chaos on the road and the police had a tough time in ensuring a smooth traffic flow.

Bhiwani, March 4
Mr Justice Rajiv Bhalla of the Punjab and Haryana High Court inspected courts at Loharu, Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani today. In his two-day tour, Mr Justice Bhalla was given warm welcome by the Bar Associations at Loharu and Charkhi Dadri.

The lawyers of Charkhi Dadri showed him the dilapidated condition of the record room which the judge forwarded to the SDM asking him to change it within a week. On demand of chambers for the advocates, he said that since the land had been allotted to them they should raise a building with own funds.

Ambala, March 4
She does not wear a black satin salwar or silver ear-rings as did the heroines of Urdu writer Sadaat Hasan Manto’s famous story “Kali Salwar”, set in the red light area by the Ambala cantonment of pre-Independence times.

Although a red light area no longer exists here Vimla (not her real name) functions from the Ram Bagh neighbourhood. Dressed in a shabby synthetic suit, she is a mother of a seven-year daughter and a two-year son and is suffering from sexually transmitted diseases and faces social exclusion, even though she lives in an area that is inhabited by eunuchs who live away from the heterosexual mainstream. “Bibi, who would like doing this wretched work! My husband was a rickshawala but he started taking intoxicants and stopped working. I have to work thus for food and his drugs.”

Vimla is one the 210 sex workers (CSWs) identified by the Haryana chapter of the Haryana AIDS Control Society as vulnerable to AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Manmohan Sharma, secretary, Voluntary Health Association of Punjab, who is making a targeted intervention here by way of organising medical camps and distributing condoms, says: “Ambala with its Army and air force stations, railway junction and the Indian Oil depot becomes a potential centre for commercial sex. Want is forcing most women to be sex workers.” The agricultural crisis, closure of small-scale industries and less employment opportunities are forcing more women to the profession.

According to a social mapping survey, conducted by Faith Health Care Private Limited on behalf of the Haryana AIDS Control Society, there are as many as 940 active sex workers in the Ambala area. They along with drug users, eunuchs and persons indulging in male-to-male sex form a group of 1,249 people who are vulnerable to AIDS.

Nisha Kumari, coordinator of the three-year project, says: “So far we have been able to identify sex workers in the low-income group. A few came to us openly at medical camps seeking medicine as they were suffering from sexually transmitted diseases. Some were identified by the neighbours.”

Twenty-five settled slum areas of Ambala Cantt and city including Ram Bagh, Lal Kurti, Kumhar Mandi, Paki Sarai, Ganesh Vihar, Alu Godam and Jundli have been marked as the target areas. While some of them are full-time workers, others work part time when the children are away to school. Some are in the keep of truck drivers. Many of them are from among the migrant labour. The pick up points are the railway station, the bus stand and Patel Park. Widows, abandoned women and wives of addicts often have no choice but this. Nisha reveals that some husbands force their wives into this profession and one sex worker said that her father-in-law initiated her into it. The workers of these areas are low paid and the remuneration ranges between Rs 20 to Rs 100.

While the National AIDS Control Organisation now calls them CSWs instead of prostitutes yet the police and archaic law treats them as immoral traffickers. Sharma says, “Never are the clients arrested. The police harasses only the women and this is done with a view to take their share.” Recently, Vimla was put in jail following a complaint by the eunuchs who live nearby. Operating from their homes they are more vulnerable as they do not have the protection and support of a defined red light area.

While distributing condoms and giving them awareness on the dangers of AIDS is essential, a holistic approach is required to better the lot of these hapless workers. For as Vimla says, “If I don’t do this work, what will we eat?”

Chandigarh, March 4
Former Indian National Lok Dal MLA from Bahadurgarh Nafe Singh Rathi has moved the High Court, seeking continuation of security cover to him.
Taking up his petition, the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Mr Justice H.S. Bedi and Mr Justice Viney Mittal, today issued notice of motion to the Haryana government for March 7.

Mr Rathi, who lost the recent Assembly election from the same constituency, has stated in the petition that the Haryana CID and other investigating agencies had recommended the Z category security for him. A 22-member squad had been deployed for him.

He alleged that he continues to get threatening letters from criminal elements in his constituency and faces a serious threat to his life.

Nepotism in HCS selection alleged

A Division Bench of the High Court issued notice of motion for March 7 on a petition challenging the selection process for the HCS (Executive) and Allied Service in Haryana.

In her petition, Dr Manni of Jalandhar has stated that 102 posts were advertised for the HCS (Executive) and Allied Services on January 24, 2004 and preliminary examination was held on May 23, 2004.

She cleared the main examination, and appeared in the viva-voce on December 14, 2004.

She has ignoring the election commission ban, the result was declared on December 24, 2002 and her name was not recommended for appointment.

Alleging nepotism in the selection process, the petitioner has stated that at least five selected candidates belong to Narwana, the constituency of outgoing Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. She has also alleged that some selected candidates were related to Mr Chautala and Mr K.C. Bangar, the then Chairman of Haryana Public Service Commission.